The heart is the quintessential symbol of Valentine’s Day and green is the color associated with the energetic season of Spring (Wood energy) according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

How fitting that now that we’ve entered the energetic Spring season (until April 17), we revel in the celebratory day of love, Valentine’s Day, since the color characteristic of the heart chakra, is green.

Coincidence? Maybe. And if so, such a nice coincidence should not go ignored!

Each season in Chinese medicine is associated with mental/emotional attributes aligned with the energy of that season’s internal organs.

In Spring, the organs are the liver and gall bladder. The negative emotions associated with liver and gall bladder are anger, belligerence, frustration, resentment and irritability and most notably, anger.

This is not the emotion we think of when Valentine’s Day comes to mind!

The inverse positive emotions associated with the liver and gall bladder in Spring are such emotions as benevolence, compassion, acceptance, patience and honesty.

How wonderful it might be for us to be proactively aware that we might become prone to anger at this time of Spring and so flip the coin to become more in alignment with the sweetness and love and compassion of Valentine’s Day!

How do we go about doing that?

First, is to be aware of our heart energetic center, the fourth chakra, in the lower part of the chest. It is where a wheel of green spinning energy perpetually whirls.

Green is the color of unconditional love and is a bridge, so to speak, between the warm (yang) colors of the three lower chakras and the cool (yin) colors of the three upper chakras.

Emotionally, the heart chakra truly involves compassion for oneself and others, a positive self-image as in love for self and a sense of connectedness with all of life.

Energetic Spring, the time of new life, rebirth and growth is the most perfect time for us to focus on being truly honest with ourselves and how we can facilitate our own personal growth. True personal growth flourishes when we have compassion for ourselves and the mistakes we have made. In compassion for self, we forgive ourselves for our mistakes. It is an act of self-love, a pre-requisite for being loving toward others.

When we intend to live in alignment with the five elements of TCM, in Spring we will want to focus on bringing green flowers into our homes and centering our diet on lots of fresh green vegetables and fruits, sprouts and micro greens.

The green we bring into our bodies for Spring will heal or uplift the heart and the heart chakra such as iron- and vitamin-rich leafy greens which promote circulation vital to the heart.

Green rose flower essence, for example, can be used around the heart chakra which is a receptor that brings in energy from the Earth and which has been impregnated with the light of the sun.

We also recommend the green Wood Phyt’Ether from PHYTO5.

FES Flowers (Flower Essence Services) says about green rose flower essence that it “Helps the Heart Feel Its Life Force in Ever Widening Circles of Compassionate Embrace.”

What could be more loving a service we can give to ourselves this Spring and this Valentine’s Day than to forgive and be compassionate with ourselves and our loved ones, and enjoy the green of the season?

For tips on how to balance your chakras, please go to our blog post.

The Heart is the Center of Our Being

“Since the heart chakra is the center of intuitive consciousness, it is from the heart chakra that the inner meanings of things can be grasped.”

– Sherwood, Keith. Chakra Healing and Karmic Awareness. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2005. Print.